(by Massimiliano Naldoni)
Sandro Polsinelli, whom the Italian shooting world knows as the successful Technical Director of the Fossa Universal National team but also as the esteemed President of the Federal Medical Commission, does not hesitate to define himself as very flattered by his recent appointment as a member of the Medical Committee of the Issf and does not hide that he felt a vivid emotion when he learned of the assignment.
“Although I’ve been practicing for a long time, – specifies Sora’s doctor – I’m not tired of my profession yet: I still feel young and ready to get excited again for a prestigious job like this. What I was assigned within the Medical Commission of the International Shooting Sport Federation is a role that gratifies me a lot and therefore I thank first of all Luciano Rossi as President and all of him the Italian Federation for formulating my name. Entry into an international commission, and specifically into a body of an international federation in the Olympic context, is a position of great responsibility that will allow me to deal with all issues related to doping but also to the health and well-being of the athletes and shooting athletes.”
Doctor Polsinelli, have you already had the opportunity to meet your colleagues on the Medical Committee and how do you expect the work of that assembly to be set up?
“Among my new colleagues I know James Galea who is a doctor from Malta who I got to meet on the shooting ranges. However, the curriculum that distinguishes all the members describes this Commission as highly qualified: starting from the President James Lally up to all the other members. For me this is truly a great goal, I have no hesitation in reiterating it, because we will be working in a group of experts who work in the Olympic field: discussions with these colleagues will be an important aspect both for my professional growth and for that sporty. I’m going to compare our realities with those of other countries. Moreover, every nation has its own directives in the medical-scientific field for sport, even if of course the fundamental lines are common and shared, so the collective work will be exciting and very profitable.”
Sandro Polsinelli was appointed member of the Issf Medical Committee in recent weeks as technical director of the National Trench National Team and President of the Federal Medical Commission
In recent years, a very important work has been done in the medical field, also at a national level and perhaps not always sufficiently known to non-experts.
“First of all, also at the national level I certainly have some thanks to do. It is extremely gratifying to work with Professor Antonio Spataro who, as a Federal Doctor, has consolidated experience and it was equally fruitful to work alongside Doctor Francesco Fazi who was the president of the Federal Medical Commission of which I was a member. In the two years since I in turn assumed the presidency of the Commission, which, moreover, is a free of charge assignment like the one for the Medical Committee of the Issf, we have taken steps to draw up a new health regulation in which we have introduced important innovations . For example, we have applied differentiations that have been greatly appreciated by members. It must be said that upon my arrival at the top of the Fitav Medical Commission we immediately found ourselves having to face thorny problems. As is known, previously the presentation of the sports medical certificate was an obligation for practically all male and female athletes and instead we have limited this document only to those who are included among male and female athletes of national interest. To give a very indicative example, we can say that previously any athlete of the Ladies qualification was obliged to present the sports medical certificate because in fact any athlete in the female sector was considered of national interest. However, this happened with the not negligible detail that sometimes they were company executives who actually carried out a very occasional platform activity. A factual contradiction therefore occurred: a very specific document was asked of many people who carried out a generic and often episodic activity. Today, however, only athletes who belong to the First category and Excellence, all Juniors and all shooters of national interest who are included in the list drawn up by the Federation at the beginning of the year. On the other hand, all the other practicing members who are not included in these groups are not required to present the sports medical certificate: the Third category shooter who only practices on Sundays, just to give another easy example, will have to present only that document which once it was defined as a certificate of sound and robust constitution which can be issued by the family doctor or by a pediatrician of the National Health Service or by a doctor registered with the Sports Medicine Federation. The sports medical certificate, on the other hand, is issued only by a sports medicine specialist. Moreover, that document must be accompanied by other certificates: in the case of our sport, for example, that document is accompanied by the ENT certificate and other analyses. It was not just a question of avoiding imposing a considerable expense on the non-competitive card holder for the issuance of the document, but rather a conceptual transformation which consists of this: competitive activity requires a distinct and more specialized medical certification compared to amateur sporting practice .”
How is the Fitav Medical Commission doing on the doping front?
“The doping issue is certainly something transversal and there is certainly a need on the part of the Medical Commission to transmit the same type of information to everyone. Doping is an aspect that affects all practitioners in the same way: to give a simple example, any diuretic taken as a hypertensive is doping because it increases the speed of elimination of any other doping substances. Furthermore, in the event of an anti-doping control and a positive result from the control itself, any athlete is personally responsible: it follows that information on this issue is absolutely essential.”
Doctor Polsinelli, thanks to your work in recent years has sensitivity to the problem of doping increased even in a non-Olympic discipline such as the Universal Trench?
“The Universal Trench, paradoxically, although not an Olympic discipline, is among the shooting practices most exposed to doping and I will explain why: in this specialty, as Technical Director, I work with young people up to 20 years of age, with Men who by age reach 55 years, with Seniors ranging from 56 to 66 years of age, with Veterans ranging from 67 years of age to 73, and with Masters being over 73 years of age. Statistics on the Italian population tell us that a large proportion of people use drugs and certainly among the large number I have mentioned there are athletes, especially in the higher age brackets, who have made and still make use of beta-blockers. I happened to call up some athletes in that situation for away games for the national team and in that case I had to promptly contact the cardiologist concerned to find an alternative solution. Some time later I then went to examine the competitive performance of these athletes both in the presence of the usual drug and with a substitute drug and it turned out that the performance was similar, proving the fact that doping in our sport is something more pertinent both psychological and clinical. For that reason I am also against the administration of a simple supplement to a young person, if not necessary or required by particular and specific situations, because it is a way to get used to associating the result with the intake of that specific food or product. But in order not to lose the thread of the discussion, here I go again to reiterate the importance of correct information on this matter. Because it is evident that certain drugs are taken for clear health reasons, but the fact is often overlooked that the taking of certain drugs collides with the anti-doping rules which are understandably very strict and envisage serious consequences for the person in terms of sporting justice .”
Sandro Polsinelli
To quote the Maurizio Costanzo of once upon a time: what’s around the corner for Sandro Polsinelli?
“I am 65 years old, but when it comes to clay pigeon shooting and medicine I always feel like a boy looking for new experiences and new knowledge, so for example I am also very stimulated by the work I will carry out in the Issf Commission with target shooting being a very new area of shooting for me. As in parallel, the work I’ve been doing for some time with the Fitasc Technical Commission stimulates me a lot, which allows me to exchange opinions with people from all over the world. Over the course of my life, the combination of the doctor’s coat and the shooting rifle has been a reason for professional, cultural, human and character growth and therefore I return to thank skeet shooting and the shooting world in general for these opportunities that they were offered to me. To summarize my situation with a witty image, I could say that on the range, as a shooter, they place me in a position that doesn’t belong to me. In fact, they describe me as a Senior, but I guarantee that I absolutely feel like a Junior!”
